No new U.S. missionaries are entering Brazil due to visa problems. So it's left for Brazilian missionaries to pick up the slack. No problem, right? After all the Mormon church brags about having more than 1 million members, and hundreds of stakes in Brazil. Getting a few thousand missionaries out of there should be a piece of cake.

Intead the missionary effort there is fading away. The Brazilian MTC, built to hold 700, currently has only 60 missionaries. Many branches that depend on missionaries for leadership are in danger of closing. And in a desperate effort to get more Brazilians to go on missions, The church lowered the mission age to 18 there. It's not looking so good for the country with the second biggest church presence after the U.S. Hmmmm, could it be that most of the rapid church growth there is just on paper?

I think the Church accountants have done their five year projections and they don't look good.

The symptoms:Deseret news downsizedJanitors worldwide laid offCity Creek condo's prices slashed by 50%Ward budgeting rehashedLessons teaching to be self reliant and not depend on Church welfareThe insignificant amounts spent on helping the poor and the needy

The actions:Ward focus on temple attendanceWe need more missionaries to recruit more membersWe need more inscribed brought back to Church

The actions are geared towards getting in tithing.

Three fold mission of the Church1. Perfect the Saints - by getting them to the temple which means they will pay tithing2. Preach the Gospel - more members means more tithing3. Redeem the dead - more redeeming means more tithing

Remember they just added a #4 - Charitable aid. They used the exact phrase required to qualify as a non-profit church. Hmmm. A little tax trouble on top of decreased income on top of $$$$$ going out in sex abuse settlements (gotta keep the crap out of the paper).

It's my personal wet dream to see something happen that would require the church to open the books. In my imagination, there's embezzlement, extortion, payoffs, all kinds of shenanigans that would show up.

I think when this all crumbles we should have a big Tipping Point party in Salt Lake City!

Applying for the Utah and west coast visas thru LA used to work ok for them. Why not now?

I doubt the Brasilian embassy cut staff. The Trib page does not say they have cut staff. And the Mos didn't suddenly start sending in many times more applications, in a new "rush", as implied in the article. So what, really, is creating this backup? Sounds like Morg spin to me.

The problem actually mentioned sounds more realistic. Brasil is annoyed by the ill treatment of the US on visas. So they give the trouble back to American applicants. When will this situation change? Maybe not until "Homeland Security" changes their policy on Brasil. Knowing Homeland Security, it could be a while before they change.

LDS informant in the Trib article says:"The new system was not thought out as well as it should have been,” Neeleman said. “There are too few people dealing with the rush of visa applications, which is overwhelming.”

What "new system" is he referring to here? The article doesn't elaborate on this. Why should there be a "rush" of apps? What would cause that? Sounds like spin.

"He has suggested that, until the problem is resolved, the LDS Church call its Brazil-bound missionaries not from Utah but from other states such as Idaho, Illinois and Indiana, which don’t have to get their visas through Los Angeles."

According to the article, this is only this guy's suggestion. There is no mention that TSCC is doing this as yet. And Illinois and Indiana don't produce the 3000 mishies a year needed for Brasil. Idaho may work for them, if they call every and all the prospective missionaries in Idaho to Brasil. Which would be a hoot!

The fact that the problem has continued at all indicates that they don't have a solution as yet. And the lack of missionaries from Brasil is the telling thing. Why so few missionaries from over a million members? How many missionaries does a million Utah-based LDS produce per year? No comparison.

TSCC in Brasil doesn't sound very healthy at all. So the reported "growth" there is revealed as just the usual Latin America "quick-dunk" "harvest", with little productive retention.

I'd like to see the tithing receipts from the million members of Brasil, compared to Utah!

And of course, all this is time sensitive. Even if they fix the problem, damage is done. Branches with no leadership will lose activity, and it will be hard to get the newly inactive branch members interested in returning, after they have had time off from attendance, and have gotten used to a new routine on Sundays. That's a big bucket of cold water.

I think we are seeing a slow unraveling of TSCC, brought on by the information age. The cult cannot no longer manipulate history and details about its dark underbelly. You can only sugar coat so much. Its like polishing and perfuming a big stinky terd.

I am surprised that the mighty profit didn't foresee this tragedy before it happened. Surely Jesus told him to "plan" better for this?

The stability of the church in Brazil is threatened simply because the church can't get new missionaries on the ground? As others have pointed out, there can't be much stability at all if it's dependent on a continual flow of "elders".

bender Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> No new U.S. missionaries are entering Brazil due> to visa problems. So it's left for Brazilian> missionaries to pick up the slack. No problem,> right? After all the Mormon church brags about> having more than 1 million members, and hundreds> of stakes in Brazil. Getting a few thousand> missionaries out of there should be a piece of> cake.>> Intead the missionary effort there is fading away.> The Brazilian MTC, built to hold 700, currently> has only 60 missionaries. Many branches that> depend on missionaries for leadership are in> danger of closing. And in a desperate effort to> get more Brazilians to go on missions, The church> lowered the mission age to 18 there. It's not> looking so good for the country with the second> biggest church presence after the U.S. Hmmmm,> could it be that most of the rapid church growth> there is just on paper?>> Here's a link from the Trib with the story> http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51121821-76/braz> il-missionaries-lds-visa.html.csp#

Next they'll start having 18 year olds serve 3 year missions. Do the 'sisters' have to wait 'till they're 20? Awesome, awesome, awesome. And as I understand it, other denominations are growing there (not that I'm happy with the spread of fairy tales of any sort) which shows the COCLDS isn't even growing in an area where the field is ripe.

I think the woman they quote whose daughter was supposed to go to Brazil, then went to the MTC in Provo and when her visa came through she had to go the next day, is my cousin. But my question is this: If they are saying that "the church" should call missionaries to Brazil from Eastern states, what does that say about the whole sham of the mission calls being inspired by Almighty God? I have a nephew called to Mexico in August who's visa just came through a couple weeks ago and has been twiddling his thumbs in Arizona, losing what little language ability he'd attained in the MTC. Inspired, I tell ya.

Another problem in Brazil is that of the four American missionaries I know personally who have been called to Brazil in the past few years, three have come home early. Sounds like they have a big time retention problem all around. Yup... In-spi-ration!

I was there in 1978-1980. I was on a temporary tourist visa. I was also selected to be a temple officiator when the Sao Paulo temple opened because there were not enough "white" members to fill the positions. I am so happy to see that they are failing.

I spent nearly a third of my mission in Brasil as a Branch President. Can't say how many times that little venture just about fell apart. I recently got in contact with a few of those folks on facebook and was told (I will grant they may have just been trying to be nice) that I am still credited as the missionary who held it together and got things turned in the right direction... Doah!

A friend of mine told me she had a granddaughter waiting for her visa to go to Brazil, she is at the visitor's center in Independence for now.

My friend said that Brazil might change their requirements and want proof of religious training in order for missionaries to get a visa. She also said Argentina is following right behind Brazil in this.

> My friend said that Brazil might change their> requirements and want proof of religious training> in order for missionaries to get a visa. She also> said Argentina is following right behind Brazil in> this.

That's what the High School Seminary program is about. I'm told that it's a common requirement in South American Countries. Don't want to go to South America on a Mission? Don't graduate from Seminary. I know a kid in my ward who did that on purpose. He got sent to France.